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17 June 2016

My 3rd Favorite Part of Baseball Season

It is officially my third-favorite part of baseball season. Actually, I'd hate to rank things like that, so maybe this is chronologically the third event of baseball season which I classify as a favorite. It is Father's Day weekend, which means that MLB.com has reduced the price for MLB.tv by 50% to $49.99. My military discount (they offer a student discount, too) decreases the price further, bringing my total cost to $32.49. This big drop in price is why mid-June is officially the start of baseball-watching season for me, and that makes this one of my favorite parts of baseball season. In case you were wondering, my first and second favorite parts of baseball season are when fantasy baseball starts drafting and when the first baseball cards for the new year are released.

Today's card features a player who is not currently appearing on MLB.tv, because I didn't spring for the extra MiLB.tv package that allows you to watch minor league games. This is a Jon Singleton Gypsy Queen Relic Gold parallel from the 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen product. I got it for a song from eBay. Well, maybe for a couple of songs if you go by the prevailing iTunes music prices. It is numbered # 20 / 25 and features a nice red relic swatch. You have to go one parallel more rare to get patchwork in this set. I've read some different opinions on Singleton lately. Some think he's likely to get another chance to prove himself at the major league level, while others think he's on the brink of being released altogether. I don't know. I'll probably still keep chasing his cards as long as they keep making them, though. It's a habit for me now.

Anyway, if you were on the fence about signing up for MLB.tv because of the price tag, it's a bit cheaper now. There is also a program where you can sign up with a group of friends for a discount, but I haven't looked into that very much because I don't have friends socialize with people who like baseball. But the discount gets progressively larger as more people sign up together.

4 comments:

With fewer games on WGN, I bought it the day Kris Bryant made his debut last year and haven't looked back. It auto renewed this year but with the season the Cubs are having I wouldn't have been able to hold out til now anyway. I've seen parts of every Cubs game this season and suffered through a few innings of other games on their off days.

I don't have cable, so no Sportscenter/Baseball Tonight and get all my baseball highlights from the app. Well worth it for me.

Even at full price it's not a bad deal if you watch a decent number of games. I get most of the highlights in my Facebook and Twitter feeds for the first half of the year, but once I buy my discounted subscription I'll watch games 2 or 3 nights a week.

$49.99 seems like a pretty fair price. Unfortunately... neither of my teams give me any reason to support them on the television. I'll still collect their cards. And I'll attend A's games... and try to hit at least one Padres game when the come to the Bay Area... but honestly that's more for thrill of eating overpriced nachos and singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the 7th inning stretch.

I can understand that sentiment. I will still watch A's games, even if they're not playing well. I like their broadcast team. I like the Astros' broadcast team, too, so even if the game isn't very interesting I will listen to it in the background. Maybe I'd approach things more your way if I lived anywhere near a ballpark.

About Me

The intention of my blogs is to focus on my hobbies, but they often wind up covering other things instead. My dormant blog, The Raz File, is centered on miniature wargames and painting. My other blog, The Raz Card Blog, is about trading cards and collectibles.